TAI CHI CHUAN( also spelled Taijiquan, Taiji Quan, Tai Ji Quan ) is also world renowned as a highly effective system of training for self defense and competition fighting. Although this aspect was traditionally held as a closely guarded secret and was thought to be a "lost art", today there are still a few remaining high level Masters who hold these secrets and pass them on to their advanced students.

To the ancient Taoists who developed this method of training there was no distinction made between maintaining or recovering one's health and preventing injury from and surviving assault by an attacker... Martial Arts were Healing Arts and Healing Arts were Martial Arts.

The Harvard School of Public Health has detailed the benefits of Tai Chi for muscle strength, flexibility, balance, and aerobic conditioning. This article also describes how Tai Chi is helpful for medical conditions such as arthritis, low bone density, breast cancer, heart disease, heart failure, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, sleep problems, and stroke.